This review is based on the press build of the game.
Clandestine is asymmetrical co-op spy and hack em up. The main draw of the games is that while one of you plays as the redhead field agent who has to sneak around and avoid detection, while the other one plays as the four eyed computer guy who's job is to hack cameras, keypads, PC's etc. But before i get into the gameplay itself, a quick summary of the rest of its pieces.
The story goes, that a certain agency is investigating a string of seemingly accidental deaths of spies, but it got shafted from all other agency for backup so they resort to using a pair of technicians, who once took it upon them self’s to save an operative despite being unprepared. The main characters are the crimson urban looking woman Katya Kozlova (code name Whisper) and the cautious hacker Martin Symborski (code name Condor), you have to go on missions, hacking and hitting objectives. Now if you go around your base, so to say, you can get more details and background stories, for the most its OK. The overall writing of the game tries to go of serious, heavy, spy stuff and to a point it succeeds. Personally i find this stuff a bit hard to keep track of it, but i am sure there will be people that could. Also there are holes in the gameplay that the story tries to explain, but it still kind of silly, like why the field agent spy woman is going around with bright red hair, jeans, backpack, a sort of plaid shirt tied on the waist and bright green headphones.
The graphics looks good. Now while i had to turn in down a little since my machine was a bit weaker, it still looked pretty good. There is a good balance between how character models are noticeable from the slightly darker textures of the rest of the levels. The only problems there are with way the game looks is that some of the characters have animation glitches and hick ups-like lips clipping the face or the model itself jumps away from the screen, while still in a dialog moment.
The music and sound is good, tough the music is kind of forgettable. The voice acting on the other had is... well. First i appreciate the large amount of different languages that are present, the problem i have is that voice actors don’t do a great job at it. Some of them you can almost tell that they are just reading the lines of the script. The biggest one that bothers me is Whisper! While in English for the most part she sounds like she is giving a presentation in front of her class, that is until she starts speaking in Russian, then she sounds like she's an interesting character.
Now for the gameplay! While i played solo, i can tell how this would fair with two people. The one who plays Whisper plays a third person stealth game where they must stick to walls and covers, avoid being noticed by guards and cameras, and of course shooting stuff. While the one who plays Condor plays a mix of map awareness and security camera control, basic hacking mini game and general support, like calling ammo and health drop offs and body clean up. There are merits to playing both, and the feeling of successful team work is definitely strong in this title. But there is a negative. While the levels are well made giving plenty of stuff for both players to do, there will be moments when one player has to wait and do nothing while the other one does his part, and while usually its no more then a couple of minutes, there are moments that are way longer. Like there was a point in a level where i did not need to use the hacker for at least 10-15 minutes. Also there are some technical issues, like frame drops, stiff controls and all too precise aiming.
Overall, i liked this. Like i said, the game has a clear goal and it does it well. The spy stuff is good, the solo play is good with a fair enough difficulty and most assuredly a great co-op experience. While there are a few issues, its still can be enjoyed if you don’t focus too much on them.
Clandestine * * * * *
Tubich
